Two views of fatal fight

Updated 10:31 am, Thursday, June 14, 2012

Tyler Rhodes, 17, of Albany was stabbed to death on Saturday, April 30, 2011, during an altercation with two men. Albany police charged two teenagers with his killing. (Family photo)

Tyler Rhodes, 17, of Albany was stabbed to death on Saturday, April...

Jah-Lah Vanderhorst (Albany police photo)

Jah-Lah Vanderhorst (Albany police photo)

Lisa Good, program directof for SNUG, right, speaks during the Aim for Peace Rally on Thursday, May 6, 2011, at Hoffman Park in Albany, N.Y. The rally follows the stabbing death of 17-year-old Tyler Rhodes at the park last week. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)

Lisa Good, program directof for SNUG, right, speaks during the Aim...

Jah-Lah Vanderhorst (Albany Police Department)

Jah-Lah Vanderhorst (Albany Police Department)

Stacey Rhodes talks to the press at the Albany County Courthouse after Jurors convicted Dhoruba Shuaib of manslaughter in the stabbing death of her 17-year-old son Tyler Rhodes Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 in Albany, N.Y. Shuaib, 19, of Albany faces up to 25 years in prison in the April stabbing of Rhodes at Hoffman Park. Tylers's grandfather James Rhodes sits next to her for support. (Lori Van Buren / Times Union)

ALBANY — A defense lawyer on Wednesday blamed 17-year-old Tyler Rhodes for his own violent death in Hoffman Park last year, telling jurors his terrified client was forced to stab his fellow teenager in self-defense.

"It's a tragedy. It's not a murder," attorney Matthew Alpern told a packed Albany courtroom on the first day of testimony in the second-degree murder trial of Jah-Lah Vanderhorst before acting Supreme Court Justice Dan Lamont.

"Jah-Lah Vanderhorst was fractions of a second away from being killed."

Vanderhorst, 17, of Albany, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in the death of Rhodes, a track standout at Albany High School, at about 7 p.m. on April 30, 2011.

Albany County prosecutors have incriminating video evidence that shows he stabbed Rhodes in the chest. The video, taken from a teenager's cellphone, is expected to be shown to the jury on Thursday. The footage includes audio of several voices asking Vanderhorst to put his knife away before the stabbing.

In opening arguments Wednesday, Alpern told the jury the video only shows so much of what really happened. He said Rhodes and Vanderhorst were entrenched in a long feud in which both teenagers were equally involved. He said just two days before the stabbing, Rhodes told his mother he planned to stab Vanderhorst.

On the day of Rhodes' death, the lawyer said, the teenager went to the basketball court in the park looking to confront Vanderhorst.

"There was plenty of opportunity not to go onto the court that day, but (Rhodes) went up to the court," Alpern told jurors. He said Rhodes complained to a friend at the court about his latest problem with Vanderhorst. Authorities have said it involved Vanderhorst chasing a jogging Rhodes with a knife.

Alpern said Rhodes left the basketball court — then returned with a knife.

"He did not stay away," Alpern said. "That is why everybody is sitting here in this courtroom today — everyone out there, all of you. Because he decided to come back."

Alpern's shifting of blame to Rhodes was a far cry from the depiction laid out earlier by Chief Assistant District Attorney David Rossi. He acknowledged Rhodes did not like Vanderhorst. He also said Rhodes planned to confront Vanderhorst on April 30, 2011. But Rossi said Rhodes wanted to have an "old-fashioned fistfight," not a deadly exchange involving knives.

He said Vanderhorst pulled a huge knife, prompting Rhodes to ask, "Can't we just use our hands?" Rossi noted the video captured people yelling, "Jah-Lah — stop!"

"He's determined to get Tyler," Rossi said, saying Rhodes only took the utility knife for protection while under siege from Vanderhorst. He said the video footage "speaks volumes."

Rossi, referring to the video, repeatedly told the jury: "Keep your eye on the ball."

Vanderhorst's former co-defendant and friend, Dhoruba Shuaib, was convicted in February of first-degree manslaughter, for his part in the killing. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Testimony began late Wednesday with the playing of a 911 call during the incident that, prosecutors say, caught Vanderhorst's own sister on tape telling him to stop. The trial continues Thursday.